Plaut us inpennis.. 
. ... THE GREAT AUK. _ y 
BY PROFESSOR W. A. STEARNS. 
I was very much interested in the article on the Great 
Auk, in a recent issue of the American Field. 
With regard to this unique bird nearly every ornitholog¬ 
ical writer has had something to say, and little or no news 
to add to its history. A resume of our knowledge on the 
subject may be of interest. In Anspach’s “ History of the 
Island of Newfoundland,” 1821, p. 393, we find the follow¬ 
ing curious information: “There was formerly on this 
coast a species of birds of the diving genius, which, from 
their inability to fly, were always observed within the space 
between the land and the Great Bank, and were once so 
abundant as to have given their name to several islands on 
that coast, but they are now utterly extinct. They were 
known by the nam9 of penguins, according to some writers 
from the Welsh, in which language that word signifies 
white head, the penguin having a remarkable white spot on 
one side of its otherwise black head; while Dr. Forster is 
of opinion that this bird received its name from the Span¬ 
iards and Portuguese, on account of Its heavy and fat body. 
In this case the derivation must have come from the Latin 
pinguis; but it is more natural to-suppose that in this as in 
every other instance in which they have given names to 
places, the Spanish and Portuguese would have made use 
of their vernacular word ‘ gorde,’ which is common to both 
languages.” 
Audubon said of it when he made his voyage to Labrador 
and Newfoundland: “The only authentic account of the 
occurrence of this bird on our coast that I possess, was ob¬ 
tained from Mr. Henry Havell, brother of my engraver, 
who, when on his passage from New York to England, 
hooked a Great Auk on the banks of Newfoundland, in ex¬ 
treme boisterous weather. On being hauled on board, it 
was left at liberty on the deck. It walked very awkward¬ 
ly, often tumbling over, bit every one within reach of its 
powerful bill, and refused food of all kinds. After con¬ 
tinuing several days on board, It was restored to its proper 
element. 
“ When I was In Labrador, many of the fishermen as¬ 
sured me that the 1 Penguin,’ as they name this bird, breeds 
on a low rocky island to the southeast of Newfoundland, 
where they destroy great numbers of the young for bait; 
but as this intelligence came to me when the season was too 
far advanced, I had no opportunity of ascertaining its ac¬ 
curacy. In Newfoundland, however, I received similar in¬ 
formation from several individuals. An old gunner resid¬ 
ing on Chelsea Beach, near Boston, told me that he well re¬ 
membered the time when the Penguins were plentiful about 
Nahant and some other islands in the bay. 
“ The egg is very large, measuring five inches in length, 
and three in its greatest breadth. In form it resembles that 
of the Common Guillemot; the shell is thick and rather 
rough to the touch; its color yellowish-white, with long, ir¬ 
regular lines and blotches of brownish black, more numer¬ 
ous at the larger end.” 
The Great Auk differs from the Razor-billed Auk, “Tin¬ 
ker,” or “Turre,” as the inhabitants of Labrador call it, 
only in its immense size and in having a very large area of 
white between the eye and bill. Its length, according to 
Coues, is “ about thirty inches, wing six, tail three, bill 
three, along gape four, its depth four.” During the Sum¬ 
mer of 1800, Dr. Elliott Coues visited Labrador, and his re¬ 
port on this bird, though adding little new light, thus re¬ 
flects a little of our former knowledge, and says that “ the 
fishermen knew immediately to what I referred when I 
spoke of ‘ Penguins ’—as they are called—and all with 
singular unanimity agreed in designating the Funks, an 
island off the southeast coast of Newfoundland, as the only 
place where the birds were to be found. Yet I never could 
find a person who had actually seen one of the birds; they 
had only heard of them as Penguins. But the fact of their 
all agreeing as to the precise locality where the birds were 
to be found, seemed to me worthy of attention.” 
In the sailing directions for this part of the coast, the 
Funk Islands are thus described: “ Th e Fu nk Islands, 
which lie northeast by east about thirty-two miles from 
Cape Freels, are a little group of rocks, just above water 
The largest of them is forty-six feet high, not half a mile 
long, and cannot be seen farther than ten or twel ve miles; but 
it will always be distinguished by the numerous birds hover- 
ing-'over it. About two hundred yards northward of this 
island there is a large rock above water, and northwest by 
west one hundred and eighty yards from this are still larger 
rocks; these are all barren, and only the resort of seabirds, 
that inhabit and breed there.” 
In the “Bulletin of the Essex Institute,” Yol. V, Nos. 
2 and 3,1873, p. 41, Mr. Harold Herrick in his “ Partial 
Catalogue of the Birds of Grand Menan,” refers to this 
species and says: “ Formerly occurred, as bones have been 
dug up from the shell heaps of Nantucket Island, close to 
Menan.” 
Dr. Coues, in his “ List of the Birds of New England,” 
says: “ For an interesting account of the discovery, by 
Prof. Wyman, of its remains at Mt. Desert, and at Cronchi 
Cove, Me., see [American Naturalist, i, p. 578.” This re¬ 
ferred to the finding of bones in the Indian shell heaps or 
kitchen gardens of these places. Dr. Coues states also that 
“ Audubon states that it used to occur on the coast of Mas¬ 
sachusetts. This statement has been corroborated by the 
finding of a humerus of the Great Auk in the shell heaps at 
Ipswich by Prof. Baird.” This was in 1868. The year 
previous, Mr. J. C. Maynard (Maynard’s Naturalist’s Guide, 
1870), wrote that “ The Great Auk (Alca impennis, Linn,) 
must have been quite common many years ago on the coast 
north of Cape Ann. In the Autumn of 1867, and in com¬ 
pany with Mr. J. A. Allen, in June, 1868, I found in the 
shell heaps on the Ipswich Sandhills, numerous bones of this 
now extinct bird; probably dropped there by the Indians, 
who must have killed them with their arrows, or other 
primitive weapons, for food.” 
Dr. Elliott Coues, in his “ Key to the Birds of North 
America,” 1872, p. 339, sums up our previous knowledge 
and adds our latest record. He says: “ Special interest at¬ 
taches to this bird, which is now on the point of extinction, 
largely through human agency. It formerly inhabited this 
coast from Massachusetts northward, as attested by earlier 
observers, and by the plentiful occurrence of Its bones in 
shell heaps; also Greenland, Iceland, and the northwest 
shores of Europe to the Arctic Circle. On our shores it 
was apparently last alive at the Funks, a small island off 
the south coast of Newfoundland; while in Iceland, its liv¬ 
ing history has been brought down to 1844. Of late years, 
it has been currently, but, as it appears, prematurely, re¬ 
ported extinct. Mr. R. Deane has recently recorded 
(American Naturalist, Yol. VI, p. 368,) that a specimen was 
‘ found dead in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Labrador, in 
November, 1870; ’ this one, though in poor condition, sold 
for two hundred dollars and was sent to Europe. I know 
fit 
